It wasn’t that long ago that hunting for a new apartment meant buying every newspaper in town and searching the classified ads for the best apartment deals you could find. For those people who didn’t subscribe to the newspaper method, there was always the, “drive around for hours and hopefully stumble upon some for sale signs” method. Today, we have the Internet as the biggest and best apartment finding tool in human history. Here are a few tips on how you can harness this magnificent power to help you find a place faster.

There are basically two different kinds of online search engines for apartments: ones based nationally that have pages for every major city and state and other ones that are local, usually based on the webpage for the local newspaper for that city or town. Both search engines have lots of matches to offer, so make sure you check both kinds when you are looking for a new place.

Another great place to look for a new apartment is on free classified ad websites like CraigsList. You will find thousands of apartment listings for your city or town here, and since the ads can be placed for free, you don’t have to worry about buying anything or paying a finder’s fee like some other ad websites charge. Even though CraigsList is a free website, it offers many search options you can choose from, such as narrowing down your search by rent price and by location.